You can become a trusted advisor to your client by using the most credible voices you have access to.

So who’s the most credible voice? The client’s own, or yours? Probably the client’s.

How about industry peers, or yours? Probably the industry peers.

How about professional peers? Not necessarily in the industry, but people who do what they do in the same title, or yours? Probably theirs.

Uh, what about trade groups, universities, studies, specialists? There’s a million different options out there, and many of them come with tremendous credibility, and your voice may be lower than all of them.

So here’s a simple question: who’s voice does the client here the most? Is it yours, or one of these other credible options? If it’s yours, and you’re not the most credible, that may be a problem. So stop and think for just a minute:

Use the most credible voice you have!

Industry peers, other customers, trade groups, studies: you can use other voices that’s not coming from you. Now, you don’t get the chance to show how brilliant you are, but so what?

You don’t need that credit, set the ego aside. Use the most credible voices so the client can evaluate with confidence, and not feel pressured, and not feel pushed. Relax.

There’s one voice that will trump all of these voices, including the client’s own. And that voice is the voice of a trusted advisor. And if you haven’t achieved that yet, then using these other voices will help you. Once you achieve that, then you’ve got to maintain it, and you’re still going to use these other voices.

Use the most credible voice you can, to help the client discover what’s in their best interest. Focus, relax, let the ego go, use the most credible voice you can.

I’m Joe Thomas, I’m out in Cleveland, Ohio. Thanks for watching, we’ll see you on the next one.